Re: [GZG] Slightly OT - Hypothetical weapon question

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Resident GingerBeer said:

> I'd be inclined to say 'it depends' on a lot of factors.  RPGs as
transported, stored, and operated by third-world savages tend to fail
to go off greater than half the time.  I doubt Somali pirates hopped
up on qat are any better than Arabs.  And that's shooting at actual
armored vehicles.

[Tomb] That's true. I was accounting for weapons in a good state of
repair.

> A fiberglass hull may or may not detonate the pizeoelectric fuze.

[Tomb] It may also bounce and rpg if it doesn't detonate. Those hulls
are
tougher than most folks think. You'd need a heck of a lot of energy
applied
at a pretty orthogonal angle to punch through with a dud of several
inches
diameter. Get it off angle and it'll reflect off it does not detonate.

>My concern on a fiberglass hulled vessel would be the probability that
the jet of copper would be at some really silly temperature (I'm sure
OA could give a precise reading) that would tend to ignite the boat.
Not to mention unused rocket fuel, etc.

[Tomb] I wouldn't worry so much about the hull as I would the contents.
Stored goods, fabric bedding, the propane tank for the stove, the diesel
tank, any batteries, etc. All could ignite if exposed to enough
temperature
or even in some cases explode I would think. If all the wooden inside
decking of your boat and the kitchen are afire, the hull is probably
further
down your list of worries. But my point about the propane and batteries
is
you may also get secondary explosions.

>> And bullets would tend to make the task of sailing the boat more
> challenging.

> Not to mention the possibility of killing crewmen.

[Tomb] That fit under my definition of challenging sailing. :0)

RPG accuracy and precision is not all that great, they are intended to
hit slow-moving armored targets at close range from a stationary
platform (ie, the ground).

[Tomb] True enough. But if I can match	your course at a distance of 15'
in
a motor launch and your target is 34'+ in length (nearing minimum
threshold
for a transoceanic sail), I'm going to have a hard time missing.
Multiple
launchers and/or multiple shots will pretty much guarantee a hit.

>  However, as has been demonstrated, fire
enough of them at almost anything, and you can hit a helicopter.  I
doubt a sailboat is going to be more difficult to hit than a
Blackhawk.

[Tomb] Bingo.

> Don't go sailing around the Horn of Africa without an anti-piracy PLAN
that is more than "hope they don't board my boat".

[Tomb] Honestly, sailing around some of those regions (Gulf of Aden,
Panama,
Asia Pacific Rim, etc) in a small but valuable keelboat or catamaran is
basically throwing the dice. There's no way, even if there are 4 - 6 of
you
aboard and  you do have firearms that you can reasonably stand off
launches
with support weapons and RPGs. So, I can't really think of a "plan"
that's
going to change that reality. You can mitigate risk of being noticed and
targeted, you can take some steps to offer limited defense portside or
at
anchor or underway, but ultimately, you aren't in the kind of vessel and
don't have the kind of armaments to effectively resist. My answer is
'don't
go there'.

-- 
"Now, I go to spread happiness to the rest of the station. It is a
terrible
responsibility but I have learned to live with it."
   Londo, A Voice in the Wilderness, Part I

"To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like
administering medicine to the dead."  --  Thomas Paine

   Thomas Paine